Alone
by KibaCanLickMe
Summary: Hanabi wishes she wouldn't always have to be alone. Hanabi X Sasuke


A newly minted jonin and heir of a prestigious clan, at seventeen, Hyuuga Hanabi knows her skills as a shinobi are exceptional. She is an exemplary ninja. Swift, accurate, and deadly, she kills as easily as she breathes. Death is as much a part of her every day as life. She is cold, calm, and calculating, emotionless even, when on a mission, and she hasn't failed one since her genin days. She is, after all, a Hyuuga, and despite the warmth and sentimentality her sister Hinata possesses, the Hyuuga clan is known for its icy demeanor and cool arrogance, which Hanabi has in spades. Up until now she's been the poster child for it.

That was, until she was put on a jonin team with Konoha's prodigal son, Uchiha Sasuke. Now the ever confident Hanabi finds herself doubting her skills. Though it's not her ninja accomplishments that she finds lacking, those she knows are commendable and will serve as a model for future Hyuuga generations to imitate yet never duplicate, there are no better gentle fist users then her and her cousin Neji, and she knows it will be years until Konoha sees their like again. No, it is her abilities as a woman that is called into question around Uchiha Sasuke. She has never before found any man as attractive as she does the Uchiha, and so she has never had the need to be anything but hard and callous. She finds she lacks the softness men find attractive in the fairer sex and she mourns the loss.

Hanabi has spent her whole life developing the glacial façade that she wears for the world and she has no idea how to let it down. The Hyuuga heir must be strong, solid, aloof, dispassionate, reserved, and most of all unfeeling if she hopes to garner the respect of the Hyuuga council, and Hanabi has cultivated this demeanor since childhood. She bore witness to the way Hinata's kind, soft heart, and sympathetic ways led her to a curse marred forehead and branch family status, and she swore she would not let it happen to her. So she put away her feelings and detached herself from all others, including her beloved older sister and idolized cousin, as she attempted to meet the expectations of her clan. Now though, when she see's Sasuke, inky black hair blowing against his alabaster skin as it seems to glow in the 

moonlight, the contrast making him ethereal, she finds herself wishing that she had let at least one of her softer traits exist, instead of cutting them all away. Because now she is only a shinobi, a killing tool with no room for fanciful emotions like love.

Yet, she thinks maybe there can be. Maybe, just maybe, she can open up enough for just one person. Maybe she can let Uchiha Sasuke behind the mask and into her life, because as icy cold as Hanabi is on the surface, there is a spark of hope in her heart that maybe someday she won't have to be alone, and all it takes for fireworks to bloom is one little spark.

Nobody in Konoha knows what it's like to be alone quite like Uchiha Sasuke. Sure, there are other orphans, other people who have lost friends and families; they do live in a ninja village after all. But Sasuke knows more loss than anything else in his life. First he lost his clan, his family, and his happiness. Then he lost his friends and team in an attempt to follow a misbegotten dream. And when he finally achieved his life's ambition, he lost his heart and his way. Because everything he'd thought he'd known had been a lie and the man he'd killed had turned out to be the brother he'd always wished for. His return to Konoha had been hard, and his transition to working with others had been harder. To actually care what happened to a teammate again had been less difficult, it was always easier to care about someone who cared about you, which was a trait severely lacking in the Sound, but sharing information and plans with others had required a lot of work and getting used to. As Orochimaru's future container Sasuke was used to giving orders and having them followed; no questions asked. The Leaf didn't work like that. Even the times when he was made team leader he found his orders questioned and alternate plans suggested, and Uchiha Sasuke more often than not found himself an outsider, feeling alone, even surrounded by his comrades.

His hope for more, his light in the dark, came in a most unlikely package when Hyuuga Hanabi was added to his jonin team. Not only was she an excellent ninja, she could distance herself from the kill 

even better than the one time avenger, and unnaturally beautiful, if he wasn't careful he would find himself lost in the opalescent eyes, Hyuuga Hanabi was as devoid of emotion as himself. And as odd as it sounded, that icy indifference left him feeling a little warmer inside. In her, Sasuke found a kindred spirit, someone who would not fill his life with incessant chatter and idle conversation, but someone who might be able to understand him in some way. Hanabi only spoke when it was necessary and never spoke when it wasn't important, which made Sasuke want to listen even more, every time she did.

He admired her skill as a konoichi, and together they were flawless assassins. He would catch the target in a genjutsu while she delivered a fatal blow to the head, courtesy of the jyuuken. The victims never even looked like they had been touched, such was the excellence that occurred when the Uchiha genius and Hyuuga prodigy were paired together. It was for that reason that Sasuke was finding it difficult to remember a mission that he was not partnered with her on. He also found it pleased him greatly.

As cold as Sasuke is toward everyone, and as much as everyone claims he has a heart of ice, Uchiha's were famous for their skill with fire jutsu (back when there was an Uchiha clan to be famous), and Sasuke yearns to feel that heat and be warm. That's why when Uchiha Sasuke looks at Hyuuga Hanabi he has hope that maybe someday he won't have to be alone.


End file.
